Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
“Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, of mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing is a human invention, including the idea that it isn’t a human invention. The world has no existence whatsoever outside the human imagination. It’s all a ghost, and in antiquity was so recognized as a ghost, the whole blessed world we live in.…Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past.”
Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I’m grateful to Don Lipper for guest-hosting tonight’s Pub Quiz.
I pride myself on my professional attitude towards work responsibilities. For example, I have yet to miss a day of work because of my own illness, but has only been 34 years so far. Who knows what the coming years will bring?
Even when I caught Covid in February of 2022, I was able to teach my writing students from the back yard via Zoom. I got to eat a number of meals in the back yard that February.
With my wife Kate and our bookend kids visiting Chicago this week, I considered bringing my disabled son Jukie with me to Sudwerk for the Pub Quiz. Because of the aforementioned Covid, Jukie hasn’t eaten inside a restaurant for the last four years, and it will rain this evening. He and I will spend this Wednesday as if it were just another weekday, probably with a long walk before the rains come.
On Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, I texted Don Lipper’s Portraits teammate Keith David Watenpaugh a photo of my walk with the dog. I wrote him “This is the first Wednesday afternoon at 5 o’clock in 20 years that I’ve been out for a walk in the city of Davis. KDVS has gone dark!”
Back then my radio show was only 20 years old. This was Keith’s response: “Savor it.”
I did, and I do.
This morning, for example, while Jukie slept, I arose early and started work on my clothes. I culled about 15% of both my dress shirts and my shorts, filling two boxes of clothes to donate. Some of the shirts had belonged to my dad, who passed away 20 years ago this month, and he himself had held onto some of his shirts for more than 20 years back then.
I will still be hearing my dad’s voice even while no longer wearing his shirts.
I sent a picture of my progress to Kate, and she wrote back “I thought you like that pink one for Poetry Night.” She was right. I’ve always been grateful for Kate’s wise counsel. Imagine all the boneheaded decisions I’ve avoided since 1987!
My best decision was deciding to study abroad in London that fall. My second-best was convincing her to move to California a few years later.
As I reread those last two sentences, I realize that I should now switch from prose to poetry and get to work on something for Kate. Meanwhile, I will send you this newsletter with my good wishes for a fun Pub Quiz tonight. I look forward to hearing back from Don, and perhaps from you, how it went.
Happy spring break, if you get one!
Dr. Andy
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If you are in Davis this evening, please join the fun at Sudwerk, despite the blustery weather.
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on Sydney, internet acronyms, famous families, Reno reservoirs, public playhouses people who were caught stealing, misguided vetoes, works of literature that ask questions, climate change, county seats, famous scuba divers, big octaves, research centers, video games, pellets, people who laugh out loud, ranting voices, Emmy-winners, three dimes, economists, notable cities back east, bald people, accords, big places, place names, superheroes, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to my new patron Adam who has been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks also to Brooke, Jeannie, Becky, Franklin, and More Cow Bell. Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are three questions from a past pub quiz:
- Current Events – Names in the News. What is the job title of Rishi Sunak?
- Sports. What do the greatest Swiss tennis player of all time and the first runner to break the four-minute mile have in common?
- Shakespeare. Which Shakespeare play has secondary characters with the names Balthasar, Benvolio, Paris, and Tybalt?
P.P.S. Davis Poet Laureate Julia B. Levine reads with Rebecca Foust on the roof of the Natsoulas Gallery on April 4th at 7.